Letters are
(occasionally) edited for spelling errors , and may contain profanity.
This section contains normal correspondence as well as letters submitted
to the MailBag.
Commentary
by Jason "loonyboi" Bergman.

If you read the disclaimer
on Creative's pages for its SoundBlaster product line, you'll find a
pretty funny line in there:

"Creative makes no
assurance that Creative's products are appropriate for any application
by any particular customer."

Now, that *really* makes
me want to buy their products. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Regards,

SirReal

Their entire disclaimer
is below, if you want it....

Disclaimer
Products furnished by Creative are believed to be accurate and reliable.
However, Creative reserves the right to make changes in its sole discretion,
at any time to the products. Creative disclaims all express or implied
warranties for the products provided hereunder, including without limitation
the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose,
nor does it make any warranty for any INFRINGEMENT of patents or other
rights of third parties which may result from the products. Creative
assumes no obligation to correct any errors contained in the products
provided hereunder or to advise users of the products of any correction
if such be made. Creative makes no assurance that Creative's products
are appropriate for any application by any particular customer. Creative
products are not intended for use in life support applicances, devices,
or systems. Use of Creative products for purposes other than those set
forth without the written consent of an appropriate Creative officer
is prohibited.

Suggestions
welcome.

From:
MaverickSubject: Thoughts

Noticed your mention of
"Wanted! The Half Life Western Pack" in your most recent "out
of the Blue"

We are very keen to develop
this product WITH the consumer and not just for them. By that I mean.....if
people would like to give their input into any part of the product then
we welcome it. Naturally only positive thoughts are relevant !

This can be ideas for DM
styles of play, weapons, DM players, monsters....anything.

We are not short of ideas
but it would be nice to create a product that people like you and I
would really like to play and have fun with......maybe worth a mention
?

Well if carpal tunnel is
your worry then the Logitech TrackMan Marble+ can't be beat, you don't
move your wrist at all, your thumb does the moving. 'Course, you're
gonna have to do a little bit of training there, wrist movement doesn't
exactly translate to the thumb but it is possible as I'm still the reigning
bad guy on a our LAN.

-jonathan

Ah...the TrackMan Marble.
I used to love that thing (see my articles on Mice at this here site
for details). Lately though, I've been using the Microsoft InteliMouse
Explorer for my desktop (I hate the thing in games - it has no ball,
so there's no resistance) and my Logitech Gaming Mouse on my game PC.

A response
to the AntiELVIS.

From:
Jason Frisvold Subject: MailBag

In response to this post
:

From: theAntiELVIS
Subject: English for game developers

Okay, they've finally driven me mad.

TO ALL GAME DEVELOPERS:

The word "technology" is inappropriate when referring to programming
techniques.

<snip!>

Technology - "a.The
application of science, especially to industrial or commercial objectives.
b.The scientific method and material used to achieve a commercial or
industrial objective. "

Nowhere in that definition
does it say that technology HAS to deal with hardware. A technological
advance could be adding real-time lighting to a game engine. I would
think that almost any software advance is considered new technology.

I'm not gonna touch scalable..
As far as I knew, it did have to do with being able to scale across
multiple platforms, not just that it was compatible..

Interface - "1.A surface
forming a common boundary between adjacent regions, bodies, substances,
or phases. 2.A point at which independent systems or diverse groups
interact: "the interface between crime and politics where much
of our reality is to be found" (Jack Kroll). 3.Computer Science.
The point of interaction or communication between a computer and any
other entity, such as a printer or human operator. "

Now let's think about this.
COM would be an interface. It forms a layer between the device and the
user. Making it easier to communicate with the device rather than having
to create your own interface, or manipulate it on the lowest level.
UI, user interface. Why? It's a device (in this case, a program) that
allows the user to communicate with the device. Or do we speak binary
now?

The author discusses performance
and reliability comparisons, about the advantages of UNIX variants over
Windows 2000. I don't have any real issues with any of that, but at
the end he adds this comment:

> Unix is extremely user-friendly.
It just chooses its friends very > carefully. Win2K is very friendly
too, but in a trailer-park whore
> kinda way.

If Windows 2000 as a server
(or workstation) is really that much easier to learn and use than UNIX
(I'm not sure that I necessarily agree), then one could easily extrapolate
that it would certainly become more popular than UNIX. Performance is
important, but it is not the only factor in the decision making process
of a business, especially as performance differences narrow.

However, to move to the consumer
side of the spectrum, the quote sounds no different from saying, "NASCAR
automobiles are extremely user-friendly. They just choose their friends
carefully. Dealership bought automobiles are very friendly too, but
in a trailer-park whore kind of way."

It's this mentality that
seems to be holding back computers from being more widely used. If more
of the already intelligent die hard Linux-supporters/developers were
more cognizant of the needs that computers could serve for people who
have no desire to understand how they work (putting them at a level
equivalent to driving a car (or, more accurately, using a TV or microwave)),
the industry as a whole would have far more places to grow, and will
become more useful in these areas a lot sooner.

This will happen eventually,
and already is, with commercial support based distributions like Redhat
becoming economically practical, but this "better than thou"
mentality is why operating systems conceived of ease of use (e.g., Windows,
Mac OS) will continue to dominate the consumer market for some time.

My thought is that certain
Linux distributions will eventually reach this ease of use and become
more popular, and many avid Linux proponents will proclaim "I told
you so." When, in reality, it could have happened so much sooner.

Thanks,

Tom "Epstein"
McLeod

I agree with you, but
remember - the easiest OS doesn't always become the most popular. Microsoft
Bob anyone? :)

I dropped
the ball on that one.

From:
.Subject: Epic Fights Back?

Re: Last item on 21 Feb's
news. Really now, shouldn't that be "The Epic Strikes Back"?
Perfect opportunity for a Star Wars reference, and you blew it. Tsk
tsk.

I've been running W2K for
quite awhile now and I've had no problems (other than Bleem not running
on it). Thanks to the Update Microsoft just made for game compatibility,
I'm switching my gaming system over to W2K now. As a server, it runs
awesome; it's very stable. Just a little information to help you with
your decision whether to switch to W2K or not.

ATTN: Conextant.

From:
Scott Beattie Subject: Modems and Windows 2000

Well I am desperate. I have
been searching for Conexant modem drivers
now for a while. No joy. I am turning to you to request you "send
out the call" .

I have a PCI Conexant chipset
modem. PT-3515 (fcid) If have come across or could post a request I
would be very appreciative. Of course win9x driver don't work. Nor do
winNT... please help!!

Scott.

There you go, Scott...maybe
we'll turn up something. Otherwise, if you've got a network, you can
do what I ended up doing: hook the modem up to a second computer and
run Internet connection sharing under Windows 98 SE (or 98 with SyGate).

On the giant
blue screen o' death.

From:
hackerSubject: Interesting Tidbit

(I see this paticular Blue
screen on a fortnightly basis) Its actually in Melbourne,Australia on
the corners of Swanston St and Burke St (swanston is the one that goes
left to right).. Its a screen that displays various news, and ads in
the middle of the CBD.. But it suprisingly has only worked on 2 or 3
occasions..

(Ive seen a few GPF's, a
couple please put the CD back in the drive, and a lot of just frozen
images on it..) Also the screen at the bottom crashes from time to time...
I dont really know if this is really worth waisting any mailbag space
BUT it was kinda a shock to see a picture of melbourne being linked
to from your site (And I think that I may be the 2nd guy from the right
waiting at the lights.. If I could see the date then I could tell you
for sure..)

Damian 'Hacker' Nikodem

If it's going to be that
much of a problem, someone should download that BSOD customizing utility
and play with it a little. :)

Win2k Driver
issues (or lack thereof).

From:
Greg Crowe Subject: aureal's new Vortex2 drivers

Blue,

I know you're a busy guy,
this is just FYI, I don't expect a response.

The new Vortex2 drivers
from Aureal also support SMP under WinNT. The old Vortex2 drivers would
intermittently die during game play under WinNT. I have been running
their newest drivers since they beta'd about 3 weeks back. They are
very stable (no BSOD), and Q3 SMP is all the sweeter now that I can
*hear* what's going on! ;-)

Regards,
-- Greg "Rev. LoveJoy" Crowe

A frustrated
Q3A player.

From:
John SmithSubject: Fighting the calculator

Hunter on the higher difficulties
is a ***** when she has the lightning gun. She's using 500mhz of calculator
power, how am I, a lowly human, supposed to compete with that?!?!

Damned if I know...I was
only able to get two or three stages in on the nightmare skill level.

This just
in...

From:
*****@aol.comSubject: (no subject)

this just in...
you people suck hairy ballsacks.

graeme devine is a pioneer
in this biz and you guys don't know crap.
plus i think you're ugly.

Hey Graeme, you've got
fans! :)

A server
question.

From:
Tom Nelson Subject: Not enough Linux

Hey folks!

How about more info on Linux
server set upping! sources on the net are scarce (suprisingly) when
it comes to this. I am trying to set up a dedicated server but whenever
I try to join it from my win2k box it says "awaiting CD authorization"

Whats up with that?

I have no idea - but
I'm sure our readers know. They is smart about that Linux stuff. ;)

More Outlaws!

From:
Randy MeltonSubject: Outlaws

Please keep mentioning the
Outlaws petition now and then. It's a shame Lucas never invested
in a second one, and with the awesome power of the Blue Tower, I'm sure
you could help persuade them. It's a classic game that deserves an upgrade.

Thanks,
BanjoMan

I've only very recently
gotten into Western movies, but I was a big fan of the game when it
first came out (now I'm appreciating it on a whole different level).
A sequel would rule. :)

Before Max Pane and Duke
Nukem Forever, there was another game that has been in the works since
Quake 1.

Whatever happened to Prey?

We get this question every
now and then, so I'll say it again. Prey is on hold while Duke Forever
is being worked on, but it's not necessarily cancelled, just being remade
(the technology would be out of date by now anyway).